Jay Brannan

Lindner Honors-PLUS Asia Trip Reflection

30 April 2017

Wow. I cannot articulate the amount of fun I had, everything I learned about myself and

the different cultures, or the lifelong relationships I made in just one opening sentenceso I am

going to settle for my initial reaction: wow. I would first like to start by thanking the key people

who made this trip possible: Susan, Ashley, Dan, Rick, Jeri, all the LHP donors, and (most

importantly) my parents. Thank you for each playing a vital role in a trip of a lifetime. My one

broad goal for the trip was to simply get the most out of the experience by saying yes to as

many different experiences as possible, by getting out of my comfort zone, and by learning about

local life and culture. I knew this was the best way to approach the trip, but I had no idea how

much the trip would exceed my expectations. I could not have picked a better group of 24

people to travel the world with. My classmates and I made so many memories, had so much fun,

and became lifelong friends. And the food. Wow again. I realized that I missed the Asian food

about four days after I returned. I love my burgers and French fries, but I miss the lighter Asian

cuisine. And do not get me started on the natural peppers and spices. The international trip is an

incredible opportunity and I am very lucky to have been able to experience it. The action-packed

seven weeks of the LHP International Trip taught me an incredible amount about the world, and

even more about myself.

Personal Development

I admit that I was skeptical when I heard from teachers and past students that I would

grow as a result of the trip. I knew that I would learn a lot and have fun, but grow? How could I

grow in just seven weeks? Boy, I was wrong.

Thinking Big

The company visits gave me a new respect for big thinkersand energized me to start to

become one as well. The three most forward-thinking presenters that come to mind are Pier

from Unilever, Dom from Shorelight Education, and Simon from Google. Three very different

men working for three very different companies, but all with lofty goals for consumers and their

firms. Each coincidently is very high up in his respective company, showing that the C-Suite

sees the big thinkers (like themselves) and rewards them with roles in which they can act on their

ambitions. I first realized that there was something different about Pier when he talked to us how

his purpose is to build to last. He then challenged us to do the same and to ask ourselves why

we get out of bed every day. I would argue that middle managers do not have this type of

thinking. Yes, they want to grow their business and empower the people under them, but this

type of high level thinking is what sets the executives apart. Years ago, Dom took at leap of

faith to join a startup whose mission is to educate the world. That took some serious guts and

some good foresight to see that there was a market for this companys services. Shorelight puts

its money where its mouth is by only billing universities when the students Shorelight sends

graduate. Finally, I was impressed to hear about the ways that Google is serving its clients by

making our consumer experience better. Google is one of the biggest thinking companies in the

world, and I am sure their innovations will continue to shape this digital age.

I wish to emulate this big thinking. I can start by setting lofty goals for myself for the

next couple years. I want to go up against Ivy Leaguers for positions in big cities, I want to get

coffee with as many executives in Cincinnati that I can, and I want to dedicate my career to a

meaningful line of work. I want to make sure that I work for an ethical company that has its
financial incentives tied to its quality of work. Hopefully if I start thinking big now I will be able

to lead a company as an executive one day.

New Future Career Thoughts

For a year and half now I have wanted to go into investment banking. As someone

interested in high finance, investment banking is the logical stepping stone to private equity,

hedge funds, and asset management. Todd Staley is a perfect example. He put in his four years

in banking, went back to school for an MBA, and then landed a position at Pimco. Being in Asia

and hearing about the presenters careers made me challenge previous my thinking. The specific

moment when I started to challenge this thinking was in the Johnson & Johnson visit. It was a

combination of the companys can-do attitude and the lively presenters who talked about the

creative ways J&J is leading the market that made me want to work in a field that solves

problems. Investment banking analysts spend most of their time in Excel and Powerpoint

valuing companies and helping their bosses make a compelling case to the client. Although

every company is different, valuing a company is not all that creative. So I have started to

explore consulting. I would really enjoy tackling a clients problem with a creative solution and

then executing that plan. I could also see myself working on international projects not

necessarily living abroad, but having a role that requires travel and an understanding of global

business. Working in a field to solve problems and make tough choices will hopefully groom me

to be an executive one day. Investment banking is also a very structured career path, but hearing

the presenters stories about how they have just gone with the flow and taken risks really made

me want to have a career in which I am in the drivers seat. If I do end up going into banking, I

will at least make sure that I am constantly being challenged and I will look for ways to make my
experience unique. I am sure with hard work and a smile everything will work out, but I cant

wait to see where I am headed in May 2019.

Learning Moments

I was lucky enough to sit at a table with Fong after the Shorelight Education visit. He is a native

Vietnamese, went to school in Canada, and has two daughters in elementary school. Our

discussion with Fong made me realize how lucky I am to call America home. We learned about

how things actually get done in Vietnam. He has to pay under the table to see the doctor, to send

his kids to the best schools, and a variety of other things. Its a never ending spiral because the

doctors have to pay the medical schools under the table to earn their degrees. Dom told us how

as much as 2.5% of Vietnams GDP is corruption. That made me appreciate free elections,

freedom of speech, and all of the other freedoms we have here in America. I had started to take

this all for granted, but being in Vietnam really opened my eyes to how other countries operate.

An Uber driver in Thailand described a pretty similar situation in which everyone in Thailand is

paying each other under the table. Fong and our Uber driver went on to say how much they love

America because it is a free society and told us how lucky we were. That sticks with you. It is

also something we all take for granted.

In 30 years I probably will not remember much of the company visits or the names of our

hotels, but there are a few distinct culture-shock moments that I am sure will stick with me

forever. These brief experiences gave me insights into the different Asian cultures and taught me

about myself. The first moment where I thought, Whoa, were really in Asia, was when we

tried to navigate the Japanese subway for the first time. We come striding up thinking that our

basic common sense and communication skills will get us to where we want to go. Wrong. We

all looked up at the board expecting English or at least the characters we were familiar with, but
were instead met with a whole board of Japanese characters. We collectively look at each other

and start laughing. We were eventually guided to the right direction with the help of broken

English, Jacobs crutch being used to point out the correct stop, and even a hug or two. A similar

experience was when a few of us went to a sushi place in Japan. There was not a single English

word on the menu, so we each just guessed and ordered different pieces. I lucked out and got all

good ones, but some guys were not so lucky. There were a few with a plant that looked like

grass, and a few that had the scales still on the fish. Again, we were able to laugh this off, but it

taught us that during the trip we were just going to have to go with the flow and not take

ourselves too seriously.

I also developed a new perspective on the Vietnam War after going through the Cu Chi

Tunnels. I understand that the world was in a precarious position with the Cold War and the

spreading of communism, but after walking through those tunnels and seeing how the war was

fought, there is no way as president I could send troops to fight. We were all laughing and

sweating down in the tunnels, but it is incredible that soldiers would live down there for days on

end. Looking out into the jungle, I noticed that visibility was about 15 feet. The fact that the

guerrilla soldiers could pop up from tunnels at any moment was so frightening that it gave me

chills. I could not even imagine wearing full combat gear and looking around my shoulder at

every turn in that stifling south Vietnam heat. I have the upmost respect for the men and women

that fought in the war, but it is a shame the deck was stacked so heavily against them.

Lessons Learned About Global Business

I found that the line between business and pleasure on this trip was very blurry. Maybe it

is how I think now with three years of business classes under my belt, but I found that I was
constantly learning about the business environments in the countries we visited. From the

Nielsen visit and FMCG company visits I became fascinated with the Chinese consumer, so it

was great to be a Chinese consumer for two weeks. I made sure to try the multinational goods

like Pringles and Coca-Cola that have been localized to meet consumer preferences. I also found

a lot of value in casual conversations with Uber drivers, random people on the street, and locals

at company visits. I learned that the world is so big, yet so small. I can be crossing the street in

Vietnam with motor scooters swirling all around me, but I can also be making small talk with a

woman in Hong Kong and figure out that she is from Northern Kentucky and her husband went

to St. X. I also formed some new beliefs and challenged some old ones.

Importance of Globalization

Before the trip I really understood the rationale for putting America first in foreign

policy. I still do not want American jobs shipped overseas, but the trip taught me that

protectionist policies have far reaching implications and ultimately are not beneficial to the

whole system. Dr. Karen talked to us about how a trade war with China would impact the

ASEAN nations indirectly since their economies are so closely linked to China. Our culture is

already being exported all throughout the world, so we might as well let these countries export

their goods and services to us directly or indirectly. I learned that large trade agreements like

TPP are beneficial because they often contain policies on labor standards and environmental

protection. The free flow of technology and ideas is another often overlooked facet of

globalization. Free trade also increases competition, which leads to better goods and services for

a lower price. I am a proponent of rewarding the most skilled workers with the best positions, so

I was shocked to hear that only 80,000 skilled work visas are granted in the US every year. And

even more shocked to hear that Trump is trying to push this number down. We should not be
restricting top talent from working for our companies and having the same opportunities as we

do just because he or she was born in another country. It is my hope that Trump and the state

department negotiate favorable agreements in which it is still easy for developing markets like

Vietnam and Thailand to export to the US.

Capitalism vs. Communism

Being in China and the other communist countries really made me appreciate our

capitalist economybut I have a much more positive view of communism than before the trip. I

will start with the bad that I saw. The first and foremost is definitely the corruption in the

developing countries. There is a fair amount of corruption in China, but not nearly as bad as

Vietnam and the neighboring countries. I also started to appreciate government agencies like the

EPA and FDA that put checks on businesses to keep us safe. In China we learned about how

essentially the whole cigarette industry is state-run and how the money is funneled back into the

faulty healthcare system. The J&J people talked about half the worlds cancer patients are in

China. The Chinese consumers have not been educated on the risks of smoking like we have. I

also heard repeatedly that it is very difficult to get a business license in China and Vietnam.

Dom told us a story how the opening of the office in Ho Chi Minh City was delayed a couple

months because someone hung the TV up in the wrong spot. I imagine the bureaucracy slows

down a variety of other processes that we take for granted. The speed at which communist

governments can operate is both beneficial and detrimental at the same time. It can be a

headache for businesses to constantly have to rework their projects to comply with the never

ending stream of regulation, but it does help in times of stress and slow economic growth for the

government to be able to step in quickly. I can see the China speed combined with the

bureaucracy hurting in the interpretation of these laws. Janice at EY talked about how usually
there is a big book of tax regulation, but how in China it is a collection of many small rules.

There are so many regulators in so many different parts of the country that the interpretation is

usually different and can slow down the process.

The most redeeming quality of communism I saw was how it unites a country of more

than a billion people, most of whom are living off of less than $5 dollar a day. Due to

socioeconomic, cultural, and lifestyle difference there will never be a way for a majority of

Chinese to agree on a particular issue, so it is up to the government to choose a position that is

beneficial to the greatest amount of people. The government is equipped to make this decision

quickly and execute it even quicker. I am very impressed how China has been able to build its

infrastructure and how quickly it is becoming a service-based economy like ours. President Xi is

trying to westernize his country, which will only help China in the long run. So while I am very

glad to be living in a capitalist country, I do see the value in a country such as China being ruled

by one party.

The Asian Consumer

The Asian consumer in fascinating. In almost every company visit there was a discussion

about how large multinational companies need to localize their products in order to have any sort

of success. At P&G we saw examples of how certain feminine care products sold better than

others due to the presence of cotton, despite the fact that P&Gs research showed that cotton was

not as effective as other materials. Some examples like Nike and Ray Ban creating an Asian Fit

line are obvious, but examples like how Mercedes needed to alter its advertising to show the

backseat are interesting and less apparent. I was surprised to hear that Chinese millennials do

not like using the same brands as their parents just as a way to be different and independent.

Before the trip, I viewed Asia as one large market, but as I learned about the cultural differences
in each country I realized this was not the case. At J&J they even talked about how China needs

to be marketed as 15-20 different countries. The same goes with marketing products in north vs.

south Vietnam.

I was blown away by WeChats influence in China. To have the Chinese equivalents of

Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Amazon, banking, electronic payments, GPS, online brokerage,

and much more in one app is astounding. All of that data collected about each consumers

preferences and habits is a little scaryand the fact that it is handed over to the government is

even scarier. Marijn at Unliever talked about how his secretary has not been to the grocery in

two years because she can order all her food online and have it delivered. In other words, you

can do your grocery shopping on the way to work in the morning and have food to cook for

dinner when you get home at night. The combination of this service and online retailers like

Alibaba make companies like Walmart pretty irrelevant. It will be interesting to see which of

these digital advancements make their way over to the United States and developed economies. I

am sure there are many bright finance and marketing minds all over the world trying to answer

that very question.

As someone who works in investments, I also enjoyed hearing about how Asians invest.

I was surprised to hear that savings rates are generally about 50-60% throughout Asia. To put

that in perspective, the average savings rate in America is 6%. This means that Chinese and

other Asian consumers really value quality for the best price when they are buying big ticket

items. Everyone in America is invested in some sort of mutual funds and ETFs, but not the case

in Asia. In mainland China retail investing accounts for 95% of all investing, compared to about

38% here in the states. Regulation has made it difficult for ETFs to gain popularity, but I would

predict that they eventually become as widespread as they are in America. All of that saving
creates an interesting dynamic. If these savings rates were to go down, Asia would see a massive

spending spree that would surely push it even further forward. It would be exciting to work in a

market like that where a massive shift is pending and almost inevitable.

Conclusion

I would like to close by again thanking the people who made this trip happen. Asia and

my LHP classmates will always have a special place in my heart. Being abroad and

experiencing different cultures firsthand only lengthened my list of countries that I want to visit.

I would love to see some of the emerging markets around Southeast Asia like Myanmar,

Cambodia, and Laos. Some of the expats talked about the expat itch, where one expat

assignment turns into a whole career abroad. I think I have the study abroad itch. I have already

started to explore options for Spring 2018, so we will see what happens. The Lindner Honors-

PLUS International Trip was definitely the best seven weeks of my life, and I would do it all

again in a heartbeat.